Convener Scheduling Tutorial NOTE: The Convener scheduling site is NEW this year. Please take a few moments to review this tutorial and become oriented with the 2014 process.
Table of Contents Upcoming Deadlines..... Page 3 Overview..... Page 4 Guidelines..... Page 5 Scheduling Steps..... Page 7 Login Site........ Page 8 Full Menu Options.. Page 9 Control Panel.. Page 10 SWIRL Themes..... Page 11 Adding People.... Page 12 Arrange Oral and Poster Sessions..... Page 14 Non-Paper Events... Page 16 Technical Support........ Page 17 Additional Resources...... Page 18 2
UPCOMING DEADLINES 28 August Online scheduling tool opens to Conveners 7 September Online scheduling tool closed to Conveners 8 September Scheduling Meeting begins 10 September Scheduling Meeting ends 1 October Acceptance notifications sent to authors 15-19 December AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, California, USA 3
Overview Thank you for choosing to convene a session at the 2014 AGU Fall Meeting. We have compiled some guidelines about convening a session, along with detailed instructions on scheduling your session. The Fall Meeting is planned on a very compact schedule that relies on your cooperation and support. All decisions regarding the final program are made by the Fall Meeting Program Committee. You should plan to stay in touch and coordinate with the appropriate Committee member throughout the process. Contact information for all committee members can be found at here. Scheduling Your Session Once the abstracts have been submitted, your role as session convener is to assist the appropriate Program Committee member to organize and schedule your approved session. You will propose a session schedule using the online scheduling system, which will be available on 28 August. Proposed session schedules must be entered into the system no later than 7 September at 23:59 EDT. Access to the scheduling system will not be available after this date. The scheduling system will include the number of oral session rooms and poster allotments the session has been assigned. If you have any questions regarding your assigned allocations, please contact the Program Committee representative immediately. 4
Guidelines Guidelines for Scheduling Sessions Conveners are responsible for reviewing all abstracts submitted to their session. Conveners do not have the authority to reject an abstract. If an abstract is not appropriate for the session, the convener may preliminarily reject the abstract and recommend its rejection to the appropriate program committee member. Complete guidelines regarding AGU abstract submissions can be found here. Session conveners can only propose a session outline for approval by the Program Committee. The Program Committee has the final approval for scheduling all abstracts and sessions for the meeting. This includes the day, time, type of session, and abstracts within the session. Approved sessions are not guaranteed an oral slot. More than 65% of the abstracts will be presented as posters. Each session must include the following information, and be entered in the scheduling system o Select and confirm SWIRL Theme o Session Chairs /Presiders (Sessions may have two (2) Session Chairs in addition to the 4 Conveners) o Outstanding Student Paper Award liaison o o Sequence of abstract presentations Length of presentations (oral sessions only); Standard oral presentation length is 15 minutes; however you determine the length of each oral presentation. An abstract can be scheduled in only one session. Your Program Committee representative will provide you with a tentative number of oral and/or poster sessions that can be scheduled. Note that the type and number of sessions will be finalized at the September Program Committee Meeting. Session conveners must not provide information to authors regarding session schedules. Please do not relay or guarantee information to authors about sessions regarding type of presentation, duration, date, or other scheduling-related matters. These decisions will be approved and finalized in late-september. The Program Committee has the final authority to make adjustments to all proposed schedules in order to ensure the success of the meeting plan. Adjustments may include: o Moving papers to alternative sessions to avoid conflicts o Changing the duration of presentations o Changing the type of session o Rejecting inappropriate papers Once sessions are scheduled by the Program Committee, they cannot be moved or changed. 5
Guidelines Continued Session Information Oral Sessions: An oral session is 2 hours in length with no breaks. There are 2 morning time slots: 0800h- 1000h and 1020h-1220h. There are 2 afternoon time slots: 1340h-1540h and 1600h-1800h. Each oral session is 2-hours in length; half sessions or 1-hour sessions will NOT be scheduled this year. A typical oral session contains 8 papers; however, you may schedule your session in alternate formats. For example, six 20-minute talks or four 30-minute talks. Presentation Time: The standard time for a contributed presentation is 15 minutes (10 minutes presentation time plus 5 minutes discussion time). Invited presentations may be given longer presentation times, but this extended time must work within the standard session times. Poster Sessions: A standard poster session should contain roughly 25 papers. Morning poster sessions are scheduled 0800h-1220h, and afternoon poster sessions are scheduled 1340h-1800h. Posters remain in the poster hall for the entire day. 6
Scheduling Steps The tutorial provides you with step-by-step instructions on the scheduling process. You must complete the SWIRL Theme and select Session Chairs/Presiders and OSPA liaisons before accessing the abstracts. Step 1: Select or confirm the SWIRL Theme selection for the session Step 2: Search for and select two (2) Session Chairs/Presiders (can be existing convener) Step 3: Search for and select OSPA liaison (can be existing convener) Step 4: Arrange sequence of abstract presentations Step 5: Add non-paper events such as opening/closing remarks if necessary 7
Login Site To access the 2014 AGU Fall Meeting Scheduling Tool, go to: https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm14/gateway.cgi On the login page, enter the email address and password associated with your AGU member account. If you have forgotten your password, click the link to reset your password. 8
Full Menu Options Once logged in, you will be directed to the Full Menu Options page. The tab Roles in Meeting will provide you with the number of sessions you have been allocated. Under the header Session Primary Convener click on the session title to access the session details for the session you will arrange. You must complete the SWIRL Theme and select Session Chairs/Presiders and OSPA liaisons before accessing the abstracts. When you open the Arrange link to access the abstracts, the session opens you will see if it has been allocated as an oral or poster session. Please note: all abstracts will currently be listed under the original session with the extension -01. (ex. AE001-01) 9
Control Panel The Session Control Panel appears on the left side of each page in the scheduling process. You must complete the SWIRL Theme and select Session Chairs/Presiders and OSPA liaisons before accessing the abstracts. via the Arrange link Please utilize the Control Panel to update: OPTIONS SWIRL Themes: Select or change SWIRL theme selection People: Search for and add Session Chairs/Presiders and OSPA Liaison View Submission: Print individual session proposals View Full Menu Options: Return to session list Non-Paper Events: Add welcome and or closing remarks to session schedule ABSTRACTS Print: Print individual abstracts Arrange: Utilize to view and complete the sequence of abstract presentations HELP Report a Technical Issue: Utilize to report any technical errors found 10
SWIRL Themes STEP 1: If you would like your session to be considered as a SWIRL session, please select one of the options from the SWIRL themes below or you must select None to proceed. Please note, additional SWIRL themes have been added to the program since session submission. You may choose to keep your original selection, choose a new theme or select None. To view the description of each SWIRL, click on the arrow next to the corresponding theme. Click on the arrow next to the SWIRL theme to view the full description. Confirm the SWIRL theme or the selection of None to continue. Click the Save button to continue. 11
Adding People Each session proposal MUST have at least two (2) Session Chairs and one (1) OSPA Liaison added before scheduling. STEP 2: Select Add Individual to search for and select two (2) Session Chair/Presider. The Session Chair /Presider may be an existing convener on the session, however you will need to search for the individual and assign them the role of Chair/Presider. STEP 3: Select Add Individual to search for and select an OSPA liaison. The OSPA liaison may be an existing convener on the session, however you will need to search for the individual and assign them the role of OSPA liaison. DO NOT UTILIZE THE EDIT OR DELETE OPTIONS FOR EXISTING CONVENERS. IF YOU HAVE ANY CHANGES TO THE PRIMARY OR CO-CONVENERS YOU MUST CONTACT AGU STAFF AT ABSTRACTS@AGU.ORG. Click the Add Individual button to search for Chairs or OSPA Liaison. 12
Adding People You may search by First Name and Last Name and/or Email Address (email address is the preferred search option) Select the role of Chair/Presider or OSPA Liaison Your search results will return on the subsequent page. If the Session Chair or OSPA Liaison does not have a record in the AGU database, you may select Record not Found and add a new record on the next page. 13
Arrange Oral and Poster Sessions PLEASE NOTE: ALL ABSTRACTS WILL APPEAR UNDER THE ORIGINAL SESSION WITH THE EXTENSION -01. (ex. AE001-01). YOU WILL NEED TO TRANSFER THE ABSTRACTS TO THE ADDITIONAL SESSIONS THAT YOU HAVE BEEN ALLOCATED. STEP 4: Click on Arrange on the Session Control Panel to access the list of abstracts submitted and arrange the sequence of abstracts. Order Within Group: arrange the sequence of abstracts in the session by updating the number in the box Accept: select to accept the abstract to the session Preliminary Rejection: select if you are recommending the abstract to be transferred to another session within the Section or Focus Group or rejected. You must also relay this decision directly to your Program Committee representative for approval. Transfer: select to transfer abstract to an additional oral or poster session you have been allocated Additional Fields Oral/Poster Allocation: The designation of an Oral or Poster session will appear after the session title. Duration/Special Duration: Sessions are defaulted to 15 minutes. You may change the default or update oral presentations individually. Poster sessions do not require durations. Preferred Format: Indicates if author choose to be assigned to an Oral or Poster or chose Poster Requested. Invited: If the abstract is Invited, it will display before the abstract title Scheduling Notes: If there is a scheduling request by the author it will appear immediately below the abstract title. Scheduling requests are not guaranteed. Click on the abstract title to view all abstract details. 14 If there are any scheduling notes from the author they will appear under the abstract.
Arrange Oral and Poster Sessions Continued To transfer an abstract to an additional oral or poster session you have been allocated, select the abstracts (you may select multiple abstracts) and scroll down to the bottom of the abstract list. The first drop down menu will be defaulted to No Transfers, do not change this selection. From second drop down menu select the additional oral or poster session that you have been allocated to transfer abstracts. (ex. AE003-01, AE003-02, AE003-03). DO NOT transfer to a session outside of your allocation. Contact your Program Committee representative if you would like to reject or transfer an abstract to another session within the Section or Focus Group. Select Update to save all selections including sequence order, accept, preliminary rejection, and transfer. Click the Update button to save all selections. 15
Non-Paper Events STEP 5: You may add other 'non-paper' events to this session such as welcome or closing remarks. Simply check (or 'un-check') the box in front of any predefined non-paper event. Enter the title of other custom event(s) in the freeform event box(es). To eliminate a custom event, simply erase that title from the freeform event box. Click the Update button to save and either select the Arrange view to return to the abstract list or Full Menu Options from the Session Control Panel to access any other sessions you have been allocated. 16
Technical Support Click on Report a Technical Issue on the Control Panel at any time during the scheduling process to report a technical issue or ask for assistance. You may attach one file when submitting a request for technical support. For example, attaching a screen shot of an error message. 17
Additional Resources Session/Abstract Submission Search Session Proposal Guidelines Convener Guidelines Abstract Guidelines Fall Meeting Program Committee Representatives AGU Abstract Archives (search abstracts from previous meetings) Thank you for your help in organizing this year s Fall Meeting! Questions? Contact abstracts@agu.org with any questions. 18